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RUSSIA

Strong earthquake may kill 100,000 Kamchatka
residents - ministry

24.08.2007, 14.26

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, August 24 (Itar-Tass) -
The Kamchatka peninsula, if hit by a powerful earthquake, may
lose up to 100,000 residents, specialists of the Russian
Emergency Situations ministry warned, referring to an analysis
of the condition of apartment houses and structures, and their
resistance to tremors.

Another analysis - of the aftermath of the
Sakhalin earthquake, was presented at an extraordinary meeting
of the regional emergency commission by a special group of
Town Hall personnel on Friday.

A six- to seven-magnitude earthquake in
Nevelsk destroyed 221 apartment houses and 29 social and
culture facilities, leaving 7,500 people homeless.

Kamchatka Territory governor Alexei
Kuzminsky said Kamchatka needed 33 billion roubles to boost
the strength of all structures to withstand 7- to 9-magnitude
earthquakes.

Scientists predicted that such an earthquake
was possible within the next five years. More than 1,800
Kamchatka facilities need to boost their earthquake
resistance.

Kuzminsky ordered to make an inventory of
“material resources” to be used in case of earthquake-related
emergencies.

“These material means should be used quickly
and effectively for helping people,” he said.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 repeat earth
tremors have occurred in Nevelsk since August 2 when the town
was hit by a powerful earthquake measuring six to seven points
on the Richer scale, according to the press service of the
Sakhalin regional department of the Russian Emergency
Situations Ministry.

It referred to new data of the Geophysical
service of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN).

The seismic activity in the Nevelsk area is
now higher than the intensity of tectonic cataclysms in the
area of the Simushir Island of the Kuriles chain. A total of
798 aftershocks have been registered there since November 15,
2006 after a 7.8-point earthquake.

The strong earthquake in Nevelsk was
triggered by the earth crust movement in the Tatar Strait on
the coast of which the town is located. The epicenter was
located just four kilometers from Nevelsk. According to
scientists, there was a tsunami wave up to two meters high
here after the earthquake; it reached the Japanese Hokkaido
Island.

After the powerful earthquake in the
Simushir Island area the tsunami wave was seven meters high
and this wave, with reduced strength, reached Alaska, the
Hawaii and even New Zealand.

The August 2 earthquake in which Nevelsk was
hit the worst had a magnitude of 6.8 points on the Richter
scale. After that, 14 aftershocks were registered in the
vicinity of Nevelsk; most of them had a magnitude of more than
five points.

The power of the shocks reduced with
distance. People in the island’s major commercial port city of
Kholmsk experienced the shocks of 5.0 to 6.0 points, while the
regional capital Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk had a mere 3.0 to 4.0
points, according to Sakhalin seismologists.

Two people died in the quake in Nevelsk, 12
were injured, 34 people applied for medical aid over the
aggravation of cardiovascular diseases.

The Sakhalin region authorities guaranteed
new housing for people who had lost homes in emergency
situations and natural calamities.

New housing will be provided to residents of
Nevelsk who were left without shelter after the August 2
quake. The housing norm will be at least 18 square meters per
one person if the family comprises three members. A single
citizen will be given 33 square meters of total housing area
and a two-member family will be provided with 42 meters of
housing. The same norm of dwelling space will be provided to
all residents of the Sakhalin Island and Kuriles if they lose
their homes in an earthquake or other natural calamities.

Earlier this week, regional legislators
called for raising seismicity norms for a number of far
eastern areas.

All the earlier structures have a 2- to 4
points deficit of earthquake resistance. It was only in 1995,
after the tragedy in Neftegorsk , when a quake killed almost
the entire 2,000 population of this settlement, that Sakhalin
seismicity was raised by two to three points, the legislators
said in statement on Thursday.

The deputies asked presidential
representative in the Far Eastern Federal District Kamil
Iskhakov to raise the issue of including the Sakhalin region
in the federal program on increasing the earthquake resistance
of the key facilities and life support systems in the seismic
areas of the Russian Federation in 2009-2017.

If their request is granted, Sakhalin and
the Kuril islands will have federal funds to boost the
earthquake resistance of old structures and built new ones,
capable of withstanding natural disasters.

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24.08.2007, 14.26

Strong
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